Prosecutor wants Total convicted for Erika disaster

PARIS (Reuters) - French oil giant Total should be convicted of maritime pollution for its role in the sinking of the oil tanker Erika, which provoked one of France's worst environmental disasters, prosecutors said on Monday.

The Erika, a rusting, Maltese-registered tanker, broke in two and sank in heavy seas off the Brittany coast in the Bay of Biscay on December 12, 1999, spilling 20,000 tonnes of fuel oil into the sea and polluting 400 km of coastline.

Summing up after a trial lasting almost four months, prosecutor Laurent Michel said Total failed to conduct proper checks before chartering the ageing ship.

"It was imprudent to approve a structurally dangerous vessel," Michel told the court. "A security check only makes sense if it is done exhaustively."

The prosecution said Total and two of its subsidiaries should be fined a total of 750,000 euros ($1.01 million). However, if found guilty, the company could also face millions of euros in damages.

Total had faced pollution and negligence charges as well as complicity in endangering human lives over the incident.

The company denies the charges.

Prosecution also urged the court to convict six other individuals and organizations over the sinking, including the two Total subsidiaries and the Erika's Indian captain.

The tanker's 26-member crew had to be rescued by helicopter and its fuel cargo started to wash ashore almost two weeks later, killing between 60,000 and 300,000 seabirds -- the most serious impact on sea birds ever recorded due to an oil spill.

The case revealed an opaque world of labyrinthine ship ownership and chartering arrangements that plaintiffs in the case say hindered effective safety regulation.

The verdict is expected at the end of this year or the beginning of 2008.